KARACHI: The number of children with eye cancer is on the rise which can fatally affect their eyesight; in many cases these children even lose their lives as they are brought to hospitals only in the final stages of the disease, experts said on Saturday.

The number of children with eye cancer, medically called retinoblastoma, is on the rise among children in the country. Most children suffering from it are brought from the rural districts of Sindh and Balochistan, according to the Child Aid Association (CAA).

Dr Khaqan Hussain said the number of such cases was also on the rise in the country’s most populous province of Punjab.

The CAA said genetic reasons formed the common cause of eye cancer; however, this was not the only reason and doctors were investigating other causes too. Around 85 per cent of children contract eye cancer because of genetic reasons, while causes for the remaining 15 per cent are varied.

The type of cancer that occurs because of genetic reasons mostly attacks both the eyes of the victim.

“It is hugely worrisome to see the number of children losing their eye sight at a very young age,” shared an expert.

“Such cancers commonly attack children during the first three years of their life,” said Dr Hussain. He added that such children could lose their eyesight and even their life if they were not brought to the hospital in the initial stages of the disease.

Officials in the health ministry said that retinoblastoma was treatable; however, it affected children fatally because they were taken to the hospitals very late.

“There are a host of reasons causing the rise of such cancers,” said a senior official.

“Most of the children belong to poor families and are living in remote rural districts and also because the facilities that can cure them are not near to them.”

He said retinoblastoma was the most common type of childhood eye cancer affecting one in 15,000-18,000, and its causes could be both hereditary and non-hereditary. Almost 90 per cent of children with retinoblastoma are diagnosed before they reach the age of five.

Experts said the survival rate of patient suffering from retinoblastoma was 95pc and if detected early there was a 100pc chance of saving the patient.

Some 8,000 new cases of retinoblastoma are detected worldwide every year and of them, over 2,000 are detected in South Asia, experts said.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2016